The Art and Style of Product Photography PDF
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THE ART AND STYLE OF Product Photography J. DENNIS THOMAS The Art and Style of Product Photography Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Blvd. Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-1-118-72147-6 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per- copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. 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CREDITS Acquisitions Editor Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Carol Kessel Richard Swadley Project Editor Vice President and Executive Publisher Amanda Gambill Barry Pruett Technical Editor Project Coordinator Haje Jan Kamps Sheree Montgomery Senior Copy Editor Graphics and Production Specialists Kim Heusel Erin Zeltner Editorial Director Quality Control Technician Robyn Siesky Rob Springer Business Manager Proofreading and Indexing Amy Knies Toni Settle BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services Senior Marketing Manager Sandy Smith ABOUT THE AUTHOR J. Dennis Thomas is a freelance photographer and author based out of Austin, Texas. He is the author of almost two-dozen books, including 20 Digital Field Guides for Wiley Publishing. He is also a frequent contributing writer for Digital Photo Magazine, as well as a guest blogger for many notable blogs, including http://FStoppers.com, www.featuredpixels.com, and http://sevenbyfive.net. Since his father, James Thomas, first introduced him to photography over 25 years ago, it has been J. Dennis Thomas’s obsession. He is also passionate about teaching others about photography and photographic technology. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’d like to thank everyone at Wiley who puts a lot of hard work and dedication into making these projects happen, especially Carol Kessel and Amanda Gambill for being extremely patient with this one, and Haje Van Kamps for pitching in extra expertise when needed. I’d also like to thank Courtney Allen for helping me grow as an author and being an all-around good friend. I’ll miss working with you. Thanks to the staff at Precision camera: Jerry for owning such a top-notch store, Robert for always taking my money and talking me into buying more than I need, Noel for giving me great deals on used gear, and Sara for somehow always making me smile even when I’m paying to fix my broken gear. Also, big thanks to the faculty at Austin Community College: Kat, Robert, Bill, Caroline, Frank, and everyone else. A special thanks to my colleague and friend, Jack Puryear at Puryear Photography, who convinced me digital photography was the future and who is now trying to convince me that mirrorless cameras are taking over (I’m still not buying it, Jack). An extra special thank you goes to H. Lynn Jones for being one of the most knowledgeable persons about photography, and life in general, that I have ever met. Thanks for showing me that teaching and writing about photography is just as relevant as being a famous fashion photographer. Rest in peace, dear friend. CONTENTS Chapter 1 Choosing The Essential Equipment 2 Cameras 4 Standard Lenses 7 Wide-angle Lenses 8 Normal Lenses 9 Telephoto Lenses 11 Special-Purpose Lenses 13 Macro 13 Perspective Control/Tilt-Shift 15 Tripods 18 Legs 18 Heads 19 Background Equipment 20 Light Tents 21 Seamless Paper 22 Shooting Table 22 Chapter 2 Selecting Lighting Equipment 26 Initial Considerations 28 Available or Natural Light 28 Continuous Light 30 Shoe-mount Flashes 32 Dedicated Flashes 34 Understanding Flash Sync modes 35 Non-dedicated Flashes 36 Studio Strobes 37 Flash Triggering 41 Optical Remote Triggers 42 Wireless Infrared (IR) Remote Triggers 42 Radio Transmitters and Receivers 42 vi The Art and Style of Product Photography Light Modifiers 46 Umbrellas 46 Softboxes 48 Diffusion Panels 49 Reflectors 50 Miscellaneous Modifiers 51 Putting Together a Basic Lighting Kit 52 On Location/Portable Kit 52 Small Studio 54 Chapter 3 Controlling and Evaluating Exposure 56 Using Exposure Settings for Effect 58 Aperture 58 Shutter Speed 63 ISO Sensitivity 64 Metering Light 66 Reflective Metering 66 Incident Metering 68 Using the Histogram 69 Setting the White Balance 73 Using Presets 75 Setting a Custom White Balance 76 Chapter 4 Controlling and Directing Light 78 The Quality of Light 80 Hard Light 80 Soft Light 82 Types of Lighting 84 Key Light 84 Fill Light 84 Background Light 86 Rim Light 89 Lighting Direction 90 Overhead or Top Lighting 90 Frontlighting 91 Sidelighting 92 Backlighting 93 Underlighting 94 Lighting Ratios 95 Reflections and The Family of Angles 97 Reflections 97 The Family of Angles 99 Contents vii Chapter 5 Using Backgrounds, Sets, and Props 100 Shooting on Location 102 Building a Set with Simple Props 104 Using Chroma-key 108 Background Materials 112 Chapter 6 Assembling the Necessary Supplies 114 General Tools 116 Odds and Ends 117 Cleaning Supplies 119 Handy Small Props 121 Chapter 7 Composing an Image to Suit the Product 124 Defining Form with Camera Angles 126 Creating Balance and Dynamic Tension 128 Composition 130 Color 134 Tonal Range 140 Using Lines, Patterns, and Texture 144 Lines 144 Patterns 147 Texture 148 Chapter 8 Applying Special Techniques for Reflective Products 150 Glass 152 Black Line/Bright Field 152 White Line/Dark Field 155 Eliminating Lens Flare 158 Eliminating Unwanted Reflections 159 The Wet Look 160 Metal 161 Bright Reflection 162 Dark Reflection 164 Combining Bright and Dark 167 Hiding and Adding Reflections 168 Liquid 170 Static Liquids 172 Liquids in Motion 174 Jewelry 189 Backgrounds 192 Types of Jewelry 204 viii The Art and Style of Product Photography Chapter 9 Applying Special Techniques for General Products 214 Food 216 Prepping Food 217 Plating Food 220 Lighting Food 221 Beauty Products 224 Fabrics and Clothing 227 Lighting Fabric 228 Creating a Lifestyle 228 Circuit Boards, Microchips, and Electronics 232 Necessary Equipment 232 Compositional Approaches 234 White on White 237 Opaque Backgrounds 238 Translucent Backgrounds 240 Black on Black 241 Opaque Backgrounds 242 Glossy Backgrounds 244 Chapter 10 Capturing, Editing, and Processing Images 246 Shooting Tethered 248 Live View Tethering 249 Simple Tethering 252 Editing and Managing Images 253 Post-processing 256 Compositing 258 Understanding Camera Modes 260 Glossary 266 Index 272
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